It has to be first-hand: The effect of first-person testimonials in medical communication on recipients’ emotions and memory

摘要

The present research systemically examines the effect of a prominent technique used in the area of medical communication and education—including testimonials in reports of medical information. Precisely, it was examined whether using the first person perspective of patients in reports on Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) as treatment of neurological diseases elicits stronger emotions in recipients than reports using the third person perspective of patients. Correspondingly, memory performance with regard to DBS-related content should be biased towards information of the same valence as the emotions elicited. Results of one experiment support these predictions. Presenting DBS-related information using testimonials (i.e. programmed patients) who report from a first person perspective elicited stronger negative emotions which, in turn, fostered memory performance regarding negative DBS-related contents compared to presenting the same information using a testimonial presenting information from a third person perspective. Practical implications for medical communication are discussed.